Chapter 3 Back to Solaceon and the Start of Contest Training!
Maritza was watching out for Breeze that evening and saw them flying from the West.
"There they are!" she exclaimed.
"Wow, it took them a while to get back." Marty said.
"I guess they got into trouble on the way or something. Let's go and see them." She said.
They left their house and headed towards the area of town where Rusty and Eliza will be landing. Once they landed, Rusty got off first and helped Eliza off of Breeze and then returned Breeze to his Pokeball.
"Hey!" they heard and turned to see both Marty and Maritza run over.
"Hey!" Rusty yelled back.
"Did you have a nice trip?" Maritza asked.
"Yeah, not only that I caught one of the starters!" Eliza answered.
"Huh? How did that happen?" Marty asked.
Eliza told them about what happened at Rowan's lab and shown them Twiggy.
"Aw, a Turtwig!" Maritza exclaimed.
"I guess this might count as your starter here even though you had to catch it all because of your Pichu." Marty said.
"Yeah, I guess, I thought I would end up with another water starter since I normally go for those except when I was Hoen I ended up with a Torchick." She told them.
"I guess I am not the only one who started off with a water type then." Maritza said.
"Yeah, she started off with Piplup while I started off with Chimchar." Marty said.
"Now that I got my Pokedex and my newest Pokemon and one of my others switched, bring on the contests!" Eliza exclaimed.
"Uh Eliza, do you know how a contest actually runs?" Rusty asked.
"Uh…um…no." she answered.
"Figures!" Maritza said.
"A contest runs as follows, first the trainer goes through a round where they show off their Pokemon that they are competing with move and they get points for it." Marty explained.
"Depending on your score that you received in the first round, you get to move onto the battle round where you go against a trainer and fight in a timed battle. You lose points with each hit that an opponent inflicts on the Pokemon the trainer has and if they lose them all or depending on how many left after time runs out, they either win if they have more than the opponent or the opponent wins in vice versa." Maritza explained.
"It is like a gym battle then." Eliza said.
"Not really, it is more of depending on how your presentation and companionship you have with your Pokemon and you get ribbons instead of badges." Rusty told her.
"I guess you guys competed." Eliza said.
"I tried it once with Sparkplug and he didn't enjoy it well especially when I tried to use an attack he didn't know well, so I went to become a ranger instead." Rusty answered.
"Actually me and Maritza compete and we didn't get to the Grand Festival because of a disqualification on my part." Marty answered.
"I see, I guess I have to try and train for it then. When and where is it?" Eliza asked.
"There is one in a few weeks in Hearthome, which is a few miles away if we take it by flight or by bike." Marty answered.
"I guess by flight is out of question since Wind is back in Johto." Eliza said.
"You can catch your own Starly and train it to evolve into a Staraptor and until then fly with me on Breeze's back." Rusty told her.
"Really?" she asked.
"Of course, you can count on me." Rusty answered.
"I guess that settles it then! I will catch a Starly!" Eliza exclaimed.
"Tomorrow will be another catch for you." Maritza said.
She nodded.
They went their separate ways with Eliza heading for the Pokemon Center to spend the night there. The next day, she met up with the twins, which they told her that Rusty was at the ranger station working.
"So, you want to find a Starly? It is an easy one. We have to head for the route that leads towards Hearthome for it." Marty said as they walked.
"why not head for the North for one?" Eliza asked.
"It has more of a hill leading towards Celestic and Veilstone." Marty answered.
"No wonder I saw a hill when I walked to town with Rusty." Eliza said.
They arrived on the route and went into the grass where they waited and looked for a Starly. They found a few Bidoofs and Bibarrels where Eliza used her Dex to get the information.
"They kind of remind me of the Ratatas back in the other regions." Eliza said.
"Well, we had no luck here let's head for another area." Maritza said and they headed to another grassy area where they saw a Starly land on a tree branch. "It's your chance Eliza."
She nodded and went out and sent out Sparkle and yelled, "Use thunderbolt Sparkle!"
Sparkle used her attack and the Starly flew out of the tree and flew at Sparkle and tried to hit her.
"Use agility!"
Sparkle did and Eliza yelled, "Now volt tackle!"
Sparkle charged at the Starly and used the attack and took it down.
"Go Pokeball!" Eliza yelled and threw the ball and caught the Starly. "Yes! I caught it!'
"Wow, I never thought I would see a Pichu with spiky ears!" Marty exclaimed.
"it is so cute!" Maritza exclaimed as she walked over and was about to hug Sparkle but she got zapped. "ow! What the hell was that for!"
"Well, Sparkle is good in battle but after being with my uncle for a while, she seems to zap anything or anyone. Now you know how I was able to get Twiggy." Eliza answered as she picked up Sparkle.
"At least you were able to use her to get a Starly with her." Marty said.
"Speaking of Pokemon, which one will you use to enter the Hearthome contest?" Maritza asked.
"I am not sure, my twoadvanced Pokemon are pretty good and there are my other three especially with the two new ones." Eliza answered.
"Can we see?" both twins asked.
"very well." Eliza answered and sent out her four other Pokemon.
"Whoa! Blastoise and feraligator? This is amazing!" Marty exclaimed.
"Then there are you two newer ones, Turtwig and Starly, and of course Sparkle." Maritza said.
"Why nott start off with your Feraligator?" Marty asked.
"Huh?" Eliza asked.
"It would make a crowd go wild if they saw something like him." Marty answered.
"Or what about Turtwig? He is so cute!" Maritza asked.
"Uh guys, I think I should compete with Sparkle or Starla, my Starly, as a start since they would probably be the better choices." Eliza said.
"True, Rusty did say you should try to train it. The better idea would to train your Pokemon against each other and practice their moves so they can have a spectacular showing." Maritza said.
"I have an idea, why not show Eliza what we do with our Pokemon so she can do it when she trains?" Marty asked.
"Good idea!" Maritza answered. "go Spritzer!"
"Go volcano!" Marty yelled.
She saw a Mafernape and an Ampoleon appear.
"Whoa! Are those the last evolutions for the two starters you two picked?" Eliza asked.
"Yep, that they are!" Maritza exclaimed.
"Now watch us do combos with the attacks! This will give you pretty good scores if you execute them really well! Volcano use your falme wheel and then use flamethrower!" Marty exclaimed.
Eliza watched as Mafernape used the combination and applauded.
"My turn! Spritzer use bubblebbeam and then use aqua jet!" Maritza exclaimed.
"Wow!" Eliza exclaimed as she watched.
"Now you try!" Marty exclaimed.
"Okay! Hmm, Splash use your water gun attack and surround it with bubblebeam!" Eliza exclaimed.
Splash did as he was told and it eended up hitting Volcano.
"Whoops!" Eliza exclaimed.
"Not bad, but don'tt aim at our Pokemon!" Marty told her and he returned Volcano to his Pokeball.
Maritza did the same with Spritzer and said, "Maybe we should help you out. I think we should send out our smaller Pokemon so we can start from there. Go Slasher!" Maritza exclaimed and sent out a Sneasel.
"I guess Sneasels are known around here as well." Eliza said as she saw it.
"Oh yeah, they are mostly found in around Snowtop Village." Maritza said.
"Go Comet!" Marty exclaimed and sent out a Clefairy.
"A clefairy? I thought they were known around in Kanto?" Eliza asked.
"I got mine through a Cleffa, don't be really surprised. Now let's try and train with your Turtwig since we might enter it instead." Marty told her.
She nodded and they all started to train with each other so that Eliza would get used to the contest layout. They kept on doing it for the next few days until she got the hang of it with Splash and Sparkle. It took a bit longer with Shells, but they were able to get the hang of it. Once the training was complete, Eliza was able to get the idea of how to compete. Then she was introduced to the idea of poffins and how the berries are used to make them and that she can make them once they were in Hearthome. By the time they had to leave, they started to hear rumors about a team looking for someone on the outskirts of Hoen.
"Does anyone have any idea about those rumors?" Eliza asked as she helped Maritza get ready.
"No, not by much! I only know about Team Galactic but they were taken care of by a group of kids a while back." She answered.
"I see, I hope it is not any of the teams I heard of back in Hoen." Eliza said.
They finished up and started heading out and met up with Rusty.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yep!" Marty exclaimed.
They sent out their flying Pokemon, except for Eliza's Starly. They flew out of the town and headed Southwest where Hearthome was.
Author's Commentary
Hello everyone! Time for another commentary! Well, I did a few mistakes with the last chapter and did my research and found out that Rowan was really in Sandgem Town and the first town in Sinoh was Twin Leaf Town. I know it was foolish of me even though in the Diamond and Pearl games they had Rowan in Twin Leaf. I feel embarrassed about that. Sorry! But at least I got some of the stuff right heh! Well enjoy!